Integration of Mindfulness and Wellness into Rural Exergames

The high-level objective of this research project is to provide an opportunity for users to promote physical activity and reduce stress while engaging with the outdoors. This project contributes toward encouraging healthier behaviors, mentally and physically.

(The visuals you see on this page come from my presentations for the conferences. It is for showcasing my research reporting ability)

Background and Goals

We have some key goals in order to develop a prototype app-based exergame:

Generative Research Goals:

Understand the users' needs and motivations who will use this application.
Explore the gap in the existing related-area apps and how we can leverage them to develop and design more targeted.
Explore the impacts of using mobile exergames on players behaviors, especially regarding engaging with nature, increasing exercising, enhancing social interactions, and relieving stress.

Design Research Goals:

Evaluate existing popular mobile applications that include part of our desired features to extract their strengths and weaknesses regarding promoting specific health behaviors.
Explore design recommendations that can help users enhance their physical activities while motivating continued interest in getting outside.
Evaluate the effectiveness of using mindfulness techniques in outdoors while walking and exploring the outdoors to reduce users' stress.

Method

First, in the Discover stage, we used a diary study approach to elicit users' information needs and behaviors and Competitive testing to find the strengths and weaknesses in different products. Participants were asked to use different mobile exergames like Walkr, Zombies Run!, and Pokémon GO for a period of 7 days, for a minimum of 20 minutes per play session, and provide daily self-evaluation reports using either the in-situ logging or snippet technique.

In the Explore stage, we then conducted a brainstorming and focus group session with five and four volunteered participants, respectively, to delve into their experiences more deeply and reflect upon their thoughts on whether and how the game supported or motivated them to go outside; And, how the game assisted them in increasing being physically active.

Additionally, we adopted the design thinking process and AR technology with storytelling audio to integrate mindfulness practices into rural exergame, which we called it "ExARcise Buddy." The short video of this project is available here.

"It should be noted that this project is under development and will cover other aspects shortly."

Crucuial Insights

The primary investigation of existing mobile exergames represented that, although the apps motivated users to get outside, they did not explicitly encourage them to engage with nature! They often distract users from positive engagement with nature, as they need continuous screen attention.

Furthermore, we have found that social interactions, in-game accomplishments, and game mechanics can play an important role in promoting continued interest in getting outside and increased physical activity. Besides, actively engaging users with nature-related elements through mindfulness techniques can enhance their feeling of engagement with nature and relieve their stress-- leading to taking care of mental health.

For additional findings and learnings, please get in touch with morva.saati@gmail.com, or see our publications, "A Study on Pokémon GO: Exploring the Potential of Location-based Mobile Exergames in Connecting Players with Nature," and "Exergames and Nature," relating to this study.

Research Impact

Design Impact

My research on users' needs and motivations helps us craft design recommendations for rural exergames.

The design process and purpose of the project were welcomed by users, leading to attracting more people, including UX designers and developers, to work on this project.

Several features are being prioritized.
Product strategy pivot - backed by research insights.

Stakeholder Imapct

Strategic Impact

My Learnings

Investigating existing popular mobile applications related to the project's purpose helps us discover their limitations and strengths, leading to a bridge to cover the gap and provide a better user experience.
Self-study reports, which come from diary studies, help researchers get first-hand data for the analysis phase.
Gamification in mobile applications incentivizes users to continue interest in using the apps.
To design a mobile application with a big goal of creating or changing social behaviors, we need to collaborate with experts in different areas and consider various perspectives.

Research Team

Morva Saaty, Derek Haqq, Avni Trasi, Ernie Saldana, and Dr. Scott McCrickard.

Fall 2020 - Ongoing

Saaty, M., Haqq, D., Toms, D. B., Eltahir, I., & McCrickard, D. S. (2021, October). A Study on Pokémon GO: Exploring the Potential of Location-based Mobile Exergames in Connecting Players with Nature. In Extended Abstracts of the 2021 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (pp. 128-132).

Saaty, M., Haqq, D., Dooley, S., Manalel, J., Pentakalos, S., Roshan, S., ... & McCrickard, D. S. (2021). Exergames and Nature. In Proceedings of the NatureHCI 2021 workshop, co-located with the CHItaly 2021 conference (pp. 8-15).